In the Wake of the Fury
by parasolghost
Summary: With an oncoming war brewing with the Nightmare Kingdom, Hiccup decides that this is a good of a time as anyway to prove himself. However, when a mischevious young man stows away on Hiccup's airship, he begins to wonder if his plans are taking a turn for the worst. RotBTD Steampunk AU


Chapter 1—Fair Winds

A thick fog filled the port that day, coupling with the doom-and-gloom feel of the morning quite nicely. It clung to the clothes of the visitors, airmen, and passengers, reminding them of the relentless cold and damp weather of Viking territories. Children clung to their mothers' sides, burying their sleepy faces into their warm coats, as woman gave their lovers, husbands, brothers, and fathers teary good-byes, waving the steam out of their faces with a handkerchief. The sound of workers on the platforms moving back and forth kept the port bustling and looking lively, as men shouted at each other and dropped tons of supplies with a loud clang on the cement.

To the awe of newcomers, splendid airships of all types and sizes lined up around the ports, some waiting to leave and some just arriving. Wings flapped, fans turned, and gears grinded together loudly as men launched their ropes to those waiting above them and mechanics hammered away at their repairs. The metal beasts seemed to shine brilliantly even in the dim light of the morning and their proud crews threw their chests out and kept their heads up as they said "well, that's my ship."

At the very end of the port to the left, a large brass airship with wide wings, floated twenty feet off the ground. It had a dull shine to it, contrasting greatly to the brilliant ships around it, and groaned every once in a while. Its wings, including an interesting tail wing near the back steam booster, resembled those of a dragon. Three people, two young men and a young lady, stared up at metal beast with wide eyes of differing emotions.

"Well, Astrid?" the lanky brunet in the middle said, placing his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest. "Have you ever seen something so amazing?"

"Hiccup, I've seen a lot of amazing things," the girl said, blinking in disbelief. "I'm not exactly sure if this qualifies as one of them."

Hiccup tore his eyes away from the craft and frowned. "Well, okay, I know the_ Fury_ might not be the _newest_ airship, but you have to admit it's still pretty neat."

"I don't know, Astrid," the large boy to the left mused, scratching his chin. "Considering how difficult for us to be assigned to this expedition in the first place, I'm going to have to say I'm with Hiccup on this one."

"Fishlegs, that doesn't ease my worries at all," Astrid sighed. "I just want to know if this hunk of metal will get us through this in one piece."

"I'd actually list that responsibility under the helmsman," Fishlegs replied, still gazing at the ship in total awe.

Astrid groaned. "Great, my life lies in the hands of Snotlout."

"To be fair, he has steered some other airships before," Hiccup pointed out. "Plus, if something goes wrong, I could always take over."

"Yeah, _that_ makes me feel so much more at ease," Astrid teased. Silence fell over the trio again before Astrid cleared her throat. "So are we just going to stand here, or are we going to fly a ship?"

"Right," Hiccup said, taking a deep breath as he tore his eyes away from the craft. "You guys go on ahead—I need to talk to my dad first."

The other two shared a look that Hiccup could only interpret as mild concern. Hiccup bit his lip, slightly embarrassed about the fact that his stinted relationship with his father was obvious enough for them to notice it without Hiccup's acknowledgement. But then again, anyone who knew the chief of the most influential tribe in the Viking Circle could see the difference between father and son from a mile away.

"Don't worry about me," Hiccup insisted. "We're going to take off in half an hour, so you might as well get settled."

Fishlegs shrugged. "Alright, if you're sure," he said. "I'll just make sure the twins aren't messing with my stuff, then." The pudgy blond waved at them before scampering up the ramp and onto the ship.  
Astrid and Hiccup were wrapped in silence, both completely unsure of what to say. To Hiccup's relief, Astrid finally took a deep breath, effectively putting an end to the awkwardness.

"You sure you don't want me to come with you?" she asked, crossing her arms.

Hiccup's lips quirked into what he hoped looked like a reassuring smile. "I'm not a kid anymore, Astrid. I'm pretty sure I can handle a conversation with my own dad."

Astrid shrugged. "Well, I'll go make sure the maps look alright then. Maybe I'll ask Rapunzel to fix me some soup while I'm at it."

"Ask her to make some for me, too," Hiccup said, his stomach gurgling right on cue. He gave her a sheepish smile. "I'm starved."

Astrid shook her head, a smile playing on her lips as he gave him a friendly punch in the arm. "With arms like that, I might just ask her to make some steak—we got to get these fish bones in shape," she said as she walked away. "See you in a few, Captain."

Hiccup waved at her in parting, massaging his arm a bit. Astrid's friendly punches were certainly a lot stronger than she thought they were. Hiccup sighed, running a hand through his auburn hair. Just half an hour more and he'd be off… The anticipation was practically killing him.

His eyes quickly scanned the port to see the humongous bearded man conversing with another just at the other side of the port. Hiccup trudged towards them, tucking his notebook under his arm.

"…an eye on them," Stoick said firmly. "I know we're not at war right now, but Odin knows what Pitch is up to. I'll send more directions as soon as I get in contact with North."

"Alright," the other man said, scratching his black beard in thought. "All that I can do." He turned to Hiccup, much to the young man's surprise, his expression quickly changing from that of deep concentration to one of amusement. "Well, I shouldn't have too much to worry about—not with _this_ crew tailing ours. With Hiccup in the lead, maybe Black will just tremble in fear and surrender."

"Thank you, Mr. Jorgenson," Hiccup replied bitterly, resisting the urge to roll his eyes in exasperation. "It hurts a little less every time."

The man gave a loud laugh, shaking his head and giving Hiccup a slap on the back that nearly made the lanky boy fall over. "Look out for Snotlout, will you? Although, you probably don't need to—he's the best airship pilot within the Circle," Spitelout put on a triumphant smirk and his eyes flickered towards Stoick for a second. "Maybe you could learn a thing or two from him."

Hiccup resisted pointing out that he could fly an airship better than Snotlout and bit his tongue instead, watching indignantly as his uncle walked towards his own ship (an impressive and gigantic craft suited with hundreds of cannons that would make the twins giddy with excitement). He turned to his father, who was obviously lost in thought, and cleared his throat.

Stoick jolted a bit, his eyes flickering downwards to look at his bony son. "Yes, Hiccup? All ready to go?"

"Almost," Hiccup replied, opening his notebook, eyes trailing down a checklist. "I just have to wait for Gobber to bring that extra gunpowder."

Stoick's eyes widened. "Extra gunpowder? Do you really need it?"

Hiccup shrugged. "Maybe. Gobber offered it and I consented. Eagerly." Hiccup searched his father's expression testily, only to be disappointed by the clear look of doubt on the older man's face.

"Hiccup, you're on an expedition—the _Fury_ is not a battleship."

"Hey, you said so yourself—who knows what Pitch Black is up to," Hiccup pointed out insistently. "Plus, we're on the verge of war with the Nightmare Kingdom—everyone in a government-issued ship is a soldier."

Stoick sighed, a hand moving to his head in vexation. "Hiccup, for the last time, you are _not_ a soldier. Just focus on getting some information on energy sources for once and don't get involved with this 'war play'."

Hiccup could feel his frustration building up inside him as he snapped his notebook shut with a single hand. "Dad," he began, "I may not be as big and tough as the others, but I can still be useful in other ways—"

"Hiccup…"

"Hel, I practically invented half of the artillery you use in the army—"

"Hiccup—"

"If you'd just—"

"_Hiccup,_" Stoick asserted loudly. Hiccup's mouth slammed shut, but his green eyes were still fierce. Stoick met his son's gaze with similar intensity and a staring contest ensued, the freckled challenger daring his paternal opponent to blink first. The tension was so thick that you could stick a knife in it and maybe carve the words 'daddy issues.' Finally, Stoick heaved a heavy sigh, massaging the bridge of his nose. Hiccup looked away bitterly.

"You've got enough food and supplies?" Stoick asked.

"More than enough," Hiccup answered monotonously.

"Alright then," Stoick said. Silence fell between them as Hiccup refused to meet his father's gaze. "Hiccup, just please be safe. I want you home in one piece."

Hiccup finally looked up at his father, his gaze still firm. He opened his mouth to say "okay," but something caught his tongue. Maybe it was his frustration, or maybe it was the Haddock stubbornness at work, but whatever it was made him say "We're Vikings—it's an occupational hazard."

Hiccup gave his father a bitter wave as he walked away, his eyes gazing down at the cement as he muttered to himself.

All he wanted was for his father to give him a fair chance for once. Sure, he messed up a few times before, but it was time for his father—for the entire Circle—to see what he could do.

As Hiccup's mind wandered distractedly, he barely had enough time to register where he was going until his foot slid out from underneath him on a patch of oil. Time slowed down and his vision blurred as Hiccup cursed his luck, lamenting in the fact that the entire Viking Circle, which already saw him as a quixotic imbecile, would watch him further humiliate himself as he crushed his head on the cement on the day he was supposed to prove his worth.

However much to the freckled young man's surprise, rather than hear his head meet the floor with a sickening crunch, he felt an arm slide under his back and a hand on his forearm.

Hiccup blinked in confusion as he looked up to see a pale, youthful face, maybe just a bit older than his own. Icy blue eyes bore into his emerald ones and a shock of white hair fell across the strangers forehead. The two stared at each other for a moment and Hiccup noted, with an extreme flood of embarrassment, that his savior was actually quite handsome.

Hiccup's next thought was the mortifying realization that he just got dipped by a total stranger in public.

The dazed brunet watched as the white-haired man's lips parted. "Are you alright?" he asked as he helped the confused brunet up to his feet.

The man's voice caused a nervous shiver to run up Hiccup's spine and a blush to rise to his face. Hiccup raised a hand to his face and coughed. "Yeah, erm," Hiccup tore his eyes away from the mesmerizing blues, "thanks."

The man shot him a wide smile, the corners of his eyes crinkling as Hiccup looked back up. "Don't mention it—we wouldn't want hair like that to get messed up by the dirt and oil now, would we?"

"Nope," Hiccup replied simply, resisting the urge to smack himself for not thinking of something clever to say right now of all times.

The stranger chuckled, much to Hiccup's total embarrassment. It wasn't until a little girl he had not noticed before piped up did he remember that there were other people around.

"_Jaaack_," the little girl whined as she tugged gently at the long scarf hanging around the stranger's neck. "Let's look at that one over there!"

"Alright, alright," the man turned away from him, taking the girl's hand as she lead him away, much to Hiccup's disappointment. However, as the stranger walked away, Hiccup noticed (with his heart doing a little leap) that he had looked back and gave Hiccup a little wave in parting, which Hiccup returned in a daze. The brunet shook his head, turning on the spot and making sure to walk _around_ the accursed oil slick and marched towards his airship with a totally different attitude than before.

Hiccup approached the _Fury_, admiring the brass beast's dull shine and wide wings when his moment of solitude was suddenly interrupted by the sound of two people rushing down the gangplank.

"Ruffnut? Tuffnut?" Hiccup stared at them in confusion. "What are you two doing here? I thought you were putting away your stuff."

"Hiccup, we're twins—we only have so much stuff between us to put down," Ruffnut rolled her eyes, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "But that doesn't matter—Astrid told us that Gobber was coming by. With gun powder."

Hiccup groaned internally. Why Astrid thought it was a good idea to let the twins know about extra artillery was beyond him. "You guys are the gunmen," Hiccup said in exasperation, 'don't you have enough explosive materials at your disposal already?"

"Uh, it's because we _are _the gunmen that we need to know about extra explosives," Tuffnut defended.

"I don't think 'enough explosive materials' is a thing that actually exists," Ruffnut added.

"Well, Gobber's running sort of late," Hiccup stated in surrender. "He was supposed to get here before Spitelout's ship took off, but they're already gone." Hiccup pulled out his pocket watch, biting his lip. "We're due to leave in fifteen minutes. Where—"

"Found him," Ruffnut interrupted bluntly, pointing behind Hiccup.

Hiccup whirled around and, sure enough, he could see the large blond man approaching them, pulling a cart overfilled with crates and guns. Gobber barreled through the crowd, limping quickly and barking at people to move as people stared at him in a mixture of incredulity and fear. This, however, was normal, so Hiccup did not think on it too much. No, what did make his jaw drop in surprise was when he caught a glimpse of bushy red locks behind the cart.

"Alright, settle down, you two," Hiccup's head snapped back towards Gobber as he shouted at the twins, who were already all over the weaponry, possibly thinking up of new plans to wreak havoc on an airship (the thought of which made Hiccup want to cry a little bit). "I brought everything I thought you'd need, but it _might_ not be enough."

"No, Gobber, it's fine," Hiccup reassured him frantically as the twins began playing with the swords. "We have enough weapons as it is… You didn't have to bring all of this."

Gobber raised an eyebrow, looking at the cart and then back at Hiccup, and shrugged. "There's no such thing as too many weapons."

Ruffnut and Tuffnut laughed in agreement, high-fiving each other before pulling the cart towards the gangplank.

"Besides," he continued, "you need the security! What if a stowaway or a sorcerer sneaks onto your precious ship? Then what'll you do?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure we would've managed a stowaway. And sorcerer's wouldn't be a problem, considering the fact that they've been wiped off of the face of the Earth."

"You never know," Gobber shrugged, "those Nightmarians are pretty shifty about everything. That aside," Gobber continued, dusting off his clothes (with his hooked hand, mind you), "I brought you a vis—"

"Hiccup!"

A blow to his left arm (the same one Astrid hit before) made Hiccup wince in pain as well as confirmed his previous assumptions. He turned to his side to see a girl with a huge mess of red curls descending from her head like a waterfall. Her blue eyes shining with glee as she looked up at him slightly. "Merida?"

"Well, I guess you've got that handled," Gobber said with a shrug. "I'm going to have a word with your father—did you talk to him yet?"

Hiccup bit his lip. "Uh, yeah, I talked to him."

Gobber looked at Hiccup's face searchingly and shook his head. "I swear the stubbornness is a family trait," Gobber said. "Well, good luck to you, Hiccup," he said, giving Hiccup a wholehearted slap on the back. "Try not to get yourself killed."

"Thanks, Gobber," Hiccup said as the older man turned on his peg leg. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Well, enough of that," Merida interjected Hiccup's farewell and popped up in front of him, jabbing a finger at his chest. "I reappear after three years and you have nothing else to say?"

"Well, we've been communicating through letters ever since your kingdom and the Vikings started having peace meetings. It's not like we need to catch up or anything," Hiccup laughed.

"I disagree," Merida folded her arms together. "If I'm right _I_ used to be the one looking down at _you_."

Hiccup chuckled, running a hand through his hair as he realized that she was right. "Well, three years does that to a guy."

"Yeah, but I'm still going to call you a 'wee lamb,'" Merida teased.

Hiccup smiled, but quirked an eyebrow when he noticed that Merida was carrying a bag, a bundle of arrows, and a bow. "So, are you going to tell me why you're here?"

"Getting right to business, aren't we?" Merida grinned. "Isn't it obvious? I'm coming with you!"

If Hiccup's expression were to be described in words, something like 'a deer in headlights' would probably be the closest you could get to explaining the pure shock displayed among the freckles and green eyes. "What?" Hiccup uttered feebly.

Merida groaned, rolling her eyes. "C'mon, Hiccup. Gobber told me himself that you have enough food supplies to last you a month or two even though your first stop should be in a couple of days," she pleaded. "Plus, I could help defend the ship during the expedition," Merida flexed her arm with a grin. "No Nightmarian is going to know what to do with this."

Hiccup couldn't help but smile a bit despite the confusing situation. All her points were true, but there was something obviously missing in her pleas. Hiccup's lips curved back into a thoughtful frown. "So, why do you _really_ want to come?"

Merida's expression of fierce determination dimmed as she pouted. "Alright, my mom's been on my ass again about bein' a lady and letting everything play out," Merida crossed her arms and huffed. "I can't do that—sitting back while everyone else does the work?" The red-headed girl cast Hiccup a pleading glance. "I want to be useful before my mom stuffs me back in my room for eternity. You know how it is, don't you?"

Hiccup bit his lip as his latest conversation with his father played in his head. The look that Merida gave him was familiar to him, no doubt. After all, she just summed it up. It was a desperate desire to prove that she could do more than everyone thought she could and a response to the pull of the glory that came with shows of courage and bravery. It was the call of taking to the skies and exploring the deep blues and the white clouds that dotted them, knowing that she had gone beyond what was expected of her. Yes, Hiccup knew that look well.

"Of course," he finally answered, giving her a relenting smile. "Well, I guess we could always use a short, angry Scottish girl on board."

"I wasn't short a few years ago," she argued, shrugging a shoulder to shift her bag strap in place,

Hiccup shrugged playfully as they walked towards the gangplank. "Hey, it's all about perspective and from _my_ perspective, you're short."

Merida threw him a look of mock offense and elbowed him. "Well, I bet from the perspective of the other Vikings, you're still tiny," she teased, shoving in front of him as they boarded the airship.

Hiccup opened and closed his mouth in a vain attempt to think of a comeback to what was, in fact, a true statement. However, in the light of his failure to do so, he was forced to just frown and utter "Touché."

Merida marched into the ship with her chest thrown out and her head high, her proud and straight posture only betrayed by the fact that she was resisting the urge to hop around and check out the ship.

Hiccup leaned against the railing and a sleek black cat, balancing perfectly along the metal rods, hopped onto his shoulder. "Hello, Toothless," he said, scratching the back of the feline's ear. "Comfortable already, bud?"

"Punzie!"

Hiccup's attention was brought back to Merida, who ran towards a girl with long (and he meant _long_) blonde hair, all nicely put up in a braid.

The aforementioned girl whirled around, dropping her bag in shock. "Merida!" she exclaimed as the red-head.

"It's been _years_," Merida said, examining the other girl's face before her eyes dropping down to a black collar around her neck. "You haven't been able to get that thing off yet?"

Hiccup thought he saw Rapunzel's smile falter for a second. "Well, it's not like I haven't been trying."

"They've been looking at these collars for a while, but no one really wants to risk _dying_ to get a reportedly harmless collar off," Hiccup explained. "A lot of the Nightmarian refugees have given up on it and a lot of them just wear scarves or something, at least from what I've seen."

Merida shrugged. "Well, it's still nice to see you," she grinned, before jerking a thumb at Hiccup. "Can you believe this boy? The first thing he told me when I saw him after three years was that I was short! The nerve of some people!"

Rapunzel giggled and Hiccup opened his mouth to object when Astrid stepped into the hall, the steel grating rattling underneath her as she walked. "There'll be more time for reunions later, ladies," Astrid interrupted. "We're set to launch in three minutes.'

"Still as bossy as ever, I see," Merida teased the other girl, who sent her a smirk. "You got a place for me to put down all of this?"

"Down the stairs, first room to the left," Astrid let out an affected sigh. "And here I thought I wouldn't have to have a roommate."

"Two minutes, Astrid!" Hiccup looked up to see Snotlout leaning over the rails, actually doing his job for once. This day was just full of surprises for him.

"Got it!" Astrid called back, turning around. "Tuffnut, get those sails ready and Ruffnut, pull up that plank!" The twins groaned, dropping a sword they were playing with to go do their jobs.

"Hiccup, get your ass up to the control room with Snotlout," Astrid commanded him, rolling her eyes. "Gods, at this rate _I_ might as well be the captain."

"Alright, alright," Hiccup relented as he hoped onto the staircase, skipping steps and sliding the control room doors open with an amount of dramatic affectation that he felt was appropriate for the atmosphere. He jabbed at a few buttons and flipped a switch, noting that the steam powered engines most satisfying sound when they jolted to a start. The wings on either side of the ship shifted as the ship rose into the air.

However, Hiccup's satisfaction was temporarily cut short when the floor seemed to tilt underneath him and his feet slipped out from underneath him.

"Snotlout!" Hiccup called frantically as he rolled towards the wall.

"Hold on, hold on—I got it!" Snotlout stumbled back to his feet and took control of the wheel once again, leveling the ship and continuing the ascent. "I was just getting warmed up. No need to get your undergarments in a twist," he said with a tone of annoyance that baffled Hiccup, who, ultimately, decided it wasn't worth the trouble of making a fuss.

And so the _Fury_ took off that day amongst cheers from its small crew. As soon as the ship got to a comfortable height, drinks were passed around and laughs were shared. The atmosphere giddy with excitement as Fishlegs laid out a map in front of them, their fingers tracing the paper and drawing circles around their planned destinations. However, the celebrations came to an end as Astrid insisted that they all had jobs to do.

Hiccup snuck away from his work, deciding that he'd have more time to do it later and slipped out of his captain's quarters, being sure to walk carefully across the grated floors and tiptoeing up the stairs to the very back of the ship. Hiccup winced a bit as his eyes adjusted to the bright lighting coming in from the window, which revealed a rather impressive midday sky. Hiccup approached the window, pressing his forehead against it as he looked down at a seemingly endless ocean. He realized, with a surprising pang, that Berk was nowhere in sight and he bit his lip.

"What's wrong? Feeling homesick?"

He turned to see, surprise, his blue-eyed second-in-command, tapping her foot at him and shaking her head. She smiled at him and crossed her arms. "Slacking on the job on the first day? Just what am I to do with you, Captain?"

"Who, me?" Hiccup scoffed. "Homesick? No… Sentimental, maybe."

Astrid walked over to his side and looked down. A comfortable silence fell between them as they both admired the view. "We've gone pretty far from home, huh?" she finally said.

Hiccup laughed. "You say that like we have never gone away before."

"Well, we've never gone with just our crew before, have we?" Astrid pointed out, crossing her arms. "I mean, think about it—this is first chance to make our mark."

"We're just an exploring crew—we don't have that much significance," Hiccup snorted bitterly. Astrid raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. "What? I'm being honest."

The blonde girl shook her head, giving him a quick jab in the side. "Actually, what you _need_ to be doing is getting to work. We make our first landing in two days—you shouldn't be slacking off."

"Alright, alright, I'm on it," Hiccup said with a sigh. "Just give me five more minutes."

"Suit yourself," Astrid sighed as she turned away. Her footsteps on the metal floor suddenly stopped and the steel creaked as she turned. "We'll do fine, Hiccup," she said reassuringly. "There's a whole big world out there for us to see—everything's going to change. I know it."

Hiccup stood by that window for at least ten more minutes before he finally peeled himself away from the glass before Astrid could kill him. He walked back to his quarters, threw himself on his bed and closed his eyes as Toothless crawled onto his back and fell asleep.

He turned his head, looking at the pile of maps and notebooks that lay on his table. Unbeknownst to Astrid, he had been planning the agendas for their first five stops for the past month. He was so eager to pack up and leave then, so what was stopping him now?

Astrid's words rang in his head and he sighed, yawning and letting his eyelids droop, green eyes peeking through his lashes as his vision blurred.

"She's probably right," he muttered with a yawn, folding his arms under his head, with the intention of falling asleep for the rest of the day.

_**A/N:**_ I have a really bad habit of starting fics and never finishing them before moving onto the next one. But you know what, I've had this idea in my head for the longest of times so I just went with it because Jack of Hearts hasn't been cutting it for me recently (for those of you who read that, don't worry that's coming up next).

But yeah…. That was sort of a shaky start and just a lot of set-up and background info? It'll get better, I promise! After all, we get to see Jack next chapter (woohoo!) and a whole bunch of other things! So yeah, thanks for reading! U v U


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